Chapter Text
Jungkook had been staying with Namjoon and Seokjin for almost a month now. In fact, today was the last day of the fourth week.
He'd always keep count during his stay at foster familiars just to see how long he could last before being dropped off again. He was always left abandoned, there was always something stupid, the drop that made the glass overflow.
But it was different with Namjoon and Seokjin, the days didn't feel so long and he didn't dread the next one before going to sleep every night.
Infact Namjoon and Seokjin were the most different foster parents Jungkook ever had. They never raised their voice at him or berated him for small things, they didn't hit him either or push him when he messed up something or refused to talk.
They never lied to him either, or at least that's what he hoped.
They were different in the best way possible and yet he was dreading today in the worst way possible. His stomach was twisting into horrible knots that made him ache, his head hurt too, he was thinking too much, too hard.
What if today was the day his new family was finally done with him? What if this last month had just been a test and Jungkook had failed?
He'd never lasted this long in a while. He was afraid, this was new territory for him.
As soon as he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth, he knew today would be exhausting for him. Every single action he did felt nauseating and the thought of coming downstairs and facing the couple made it even worse.
He took the stairs anyway when he heard Seokjin's familiar call for breakfast, they must have heard the bathroom upstairs. He walked down to the kitchen with slow careful steps, the slight creak of floorboards made him shudder.
He felt like everything was glass and if he touched any of it, it would break and Namjoon and Seokjin would see through him finally and drive him right back into the center.
As soon as he sat down on his chair and was served his usual scrambled eggs along with some rice by Seokjin, he knew something was off. Namjoon was oddly quiet, which was weird because he was always chatty especially on the weekend when he had all the time in the world for his family. Or at least his husband.
Seokjin was quiet too but that wasn't too unusual, he was quite introverted despite his charming appearance and jokes, he didn't talk much when he had nothing particular to say. But usually on mornings like this, the couple would be happily discussing some random topic or bickering over something stupid that would make Jungkook giggle gently.
But they were dead silent. Namjoon was sipping on a cup of coffee while his eyes were glued to his phone, Seokjin was still busy near the stove even though all their plates were filled. When he sat down and started eating, he didn't pipe up either. Not even a sound of delight as he ate like he would usually sound.
Jungkook's fears were coming to reality. Perhaps, they had realized just how stupid and useless he was. Who wanted to raise some crazy kid who's own mother didn't even want him anymore? He flinched at every movement despite them never raising their hands on him, he didn't let himself be touched before they asked for permission first until last week.
Anyone after a few days would get fed up, it was a miracle or perhaps pity from the couple they had let him stay this long. He loved staying with them, Namjoon gave him some books to read and made him listen to some of the songs he was currently producing, Seokjin tried to make him learn how to cook and always called him to test-taste his recipes.
This was the first time in years he'd finally felt like he could belong somewhere, that he had a home, and it was all going to be gone soon. The longer he waited, the more anxious he grew. He couldn't even bring himself to eat his breakfast, just playing with the food with his fork.
The clock struck nine, Namjoon sighed and set his spoon down, turning to look at his husband. Seokjin was staring blankly into space without saying a word, the silence around the table was starting to become suffocating and Jungkook felt like it was getting harder to breathe.
"I'm not feeling hungry, sorry." He muttered with a shaky voice and set his plate down, leaving the table and rushing to his room.
He instinctively closed the door behind him, there was no lock on it much to his dismay. He grabbed his spiderman keychain and gripped it as tight as possible, a reminder of the past, the hopeful future he thought he'd have with the other two.
They were going to get rid of him, Jungkook couldn't help the tears falling down his face at almost inhuman speed. It was getting hard to breathe, and he tried to focus on everything in his room, his figurines, the IronMan posters he'd bought with Seokjin the other day, the coat Namjoon had picked for him last Tuesday when the weather had gotten colder.
He was hyperventilating, his chest heaving up and down at an abnormal rate, the air barely filling his lungs for him to breathe properly. Fat tears were spilling down his cheeks, the salty taste going into his mouth and he tried to suppress a loud sob.
The more he tried to silence himself, the worse it got. He eventually managed to lay down on the bed, grabbing the pillow and muffling his crying inside it as best as he could. He was going back to the center, they were leaving him just like everyone else.
He wasn't good enough, he wasn't meant to be loved. That's what his mother had said the day they took him away from her, that he had ruined her previous marriage and that she was glad he was gone.
He wished the police hadn't came that night when he climbed, he wished there were no witnesses who had called them, he wished he had jumped so he couldn't feel the pain he was feeling right now.
Jungkook didn't know how or when but he eventually fell asleep. He had cried so hard it had tired him out, but he was woken up by a gentle pressure on his shoulder. When he opened his eyes, his vision was slightly still blurry and teary but Seokjin was in front of him.
The man was smiling at him, that sweet smile of his but Jungkook wasn't feeling better. He knew something was up behind that grin.
"Hey there, kiddo." Jungkook didn't reply, keeping his gaze focused on Seokjin. "How are you feeling?"
No answer again.
"Well Joonie and I were worried about you but since you closed your door, we didn't want to interrupt but it's time." He explained and Jungkook's heart sank.
He must have looked mortified because Seokjin frowned and rubbed his hand against his shoulder gently.
"Are you sure you're okay? You didn't eat anything, I told you already you need to eat a lot."
Seokjin seemed to get almost emotional as he continued.
"My poor boy, you're all bones."
Jungkook wiped his face with his sleeve and tried to speak only for his voice to sound strained and exhausted.
"M'm fine."
Seokjin scolded slightly at that and his lips formed a pout, he reached a hand over to Jungkook's face and brushed his bangs out of his face to feel his forehead.
"Well, you don't have a fever."
"I'm fine, I promise."
"Well we have a surprise for you, Jungkook-ah." Seokjin sounded giddy, excited even and Jungkook couldn't feel more fear than the amount he felt right now.
He sat up on the bed and pulled away from the older who nodded in understanding, he didn't hit him. He wasn't like them, he was different. Jungkook used to get slaps just for looking at his so called caretakers the wrong way, or not answering properly.
He was still scared, he knew what awaited him and the fact that Seokjin seemed happy about it made him want to crawl into a ball and cry endlessly. He didn't care if they didn't want him, he loved them, he really did, he had grown to love their company, their little routine, their personalities.
He looked up to Namjoon and Seokjin as if they were his real parents.
At least, they had been kind enough to give him one month of pure joy and happiness, yet the bitterness of knowing it was over washed over all those memories they built over those four weeks.
"Let's head downstairs, m'kay?"
Jungkook nodded hesitantly. He had nothing to lose anymore, he might as well hurry up and get it over with already. He didn't understand why the couple was dragging it out, why couldn't they just tell him the truth like everyone else did before them? That they didn't want him? That he was too weird for their liking?
Nonetheless, he followed Seokjin downstairs with his head glued on the stairs. He continued to stare at the ground and was eventually led to the living room, he could see Namjoon's slippers peeking from the couch.
"Namjoon-ah, he's here!"
Namjoon suddenly got up at that and a loud confetti noise echoed through the room, when Jungkook looked up Namjoon was wearing a golden party hat and there was a cake sitting on the coffee table along with some document next to it.
Jungkook was utterly confused and was even more drowned in confusion when two pairs of arms engulfed him in a tight embrace, he hugged back and finally let the pain out. He sobbed loudly as he let himself be held.
"Happy one month with us, our baby." Seokjin cooed, patting his back reassuringly.
"We wanted to surprise you, it's a big date for all three of us today, you know?" Namjoon said, ruffling his hair.
When they let go of him, Jungkook continued to cry but couldn't suppress the smile of relief that tugged at his lips. He let the tears fall and hit the floor beneath him, looking at the decorations around the living room.
Seokjin put on his own party hat and Namjoon handed Jungkook one for him as well. He let the latter put it on for him, still in utter disbelief. The more he stared, the bigger his heart seemed to grow, the heart shaped cake and the one month anniversary banner hanging out off the walls.
"I thought you guys were going to take me back-" He said, his voice cracking as he cried more.
Namjoon was wiping his tears with his thumb.
"Our beautiful boy, why would we ever get rid of you?"
He looked up at the ceiling, his vision getting blurry with tears.
"You're getting me all emotional again," Namjoon's voice shook, "God, I love you."
"You do?" Jungkook asked and was embraced by Seokjin again who held onto his husband's hand as well.
"Of course, we do. You mean the world to us." He uttured, his voice full of adoration.
"You're the light of our lives, damn it." Namjoon added out and tried to blink away his tears.
Seokjin was the one to lighten the mood, forcing a laugh out of himself to stop and ease it up with the tears:
"Ya, my two crybabies, this is a special occasion so let's celebrate already!"
Jungkook sniffled and held on tight onto the pair.
"Dad's right."
He then realized the words that had just left his mouth and looked at the both of them, all three stared at each other in shock and Jungkook was about to apologize but then Seokjin smiled the most beautiful smile the younger had ever seen.
"That's true, your dad is always right."
They sat down on the couch and Seokjin guided Jungkook's hand to cut the cake, in three individual parts for each of them with the biggest one being for Jungkook. It was a vanilla cake and it tasted like heaven, but Jungkook's eyes settled onto the papers next to it.
Adoption papers.
Namjoon seemed to notice and took one last bite of cake before putting it down, almost dropping but Jungkook caught it before it could drop onto the ground.
"Adoption papers?" He asked incredulously, more to himself than to Namjoon and Seokjin specifically.
"We wanna make it official, Kook-ah." Namjoon declared, and Jungkook found himself tearing up again.
The couple grabbed a pen and the documents, if they signed it, his name would change from Jeon to Kim. It sounded good in his mind, he wasn't related to that woman anymore nor was she ever going to be part of his life again.
"Now, Jungkook, it's time for us to ask you." Namjoon started and Seokjin took a deep breath.
"Do you wanna stay with us? Do you want to officially be our child? We already consider you like so but it's your decision." He finished for his husband.
Jungkook blinked and almost pinched himself, trying to see if this was some sort of fever dream. Someone, two lovely people he'd grown to adore, were willing to adopt him. To accept him as part of their family forever. Not just for a small amount of time.
"Of course, I wanna stay with you. I never wanna go anywhere else in the world!" He exclaimed, hugging the both of them quickly and watching with happy tears as they signed the papers.
It was official, he was legally their son now.
He couldn't help but cry some more, holding onto their hands and kissing both of their cheeks, something he'd never done before. He never initiated contact with them, especially physical.
"Our son," Namjoon repeated, "Our beautiful son."
"Our boy, Joonie, he's our boy."
The couple shared a kiss and hugged their new son tightly, as tight as they could. Seokjin kissed his forehead gently and Namjoon went over to the other side of the sofa to grab something.
When Seokjin finally let get of him, Jungkook saw that it was a comic book, not any comic book but the first Spiderman comic ever published.
"You said you wanted to collect comic books and I thought why not start with your favorite?" Namjoon commented with a smile.
Jungkook held the comic book close to his beating heart.
"Thank you, thank you so much, I don't know what to say-"
"Bun, you deserve the entire world." Seokjin spoke up and Jungkook smiled so hard it hurt.
"I got you the most authentic version I could, I went full vintage. It fits you." Namjoon continued and Jungkook just took his hand into his much smaller one and squeezed tightly, putting the comic into his lap.
"I can't thank you enough."
"Just thank us by being happy and healthy, I'm always so worried for you, my baby." Seokjin sighed.
"I promise I will be, Dad."
The word didn't feel foreign, it fit Seokjin and it fit Namjoon too, they were his dads, his fathers and nothing could ever get him again as long as he had them with him. And he wasn't going anywhere.
They continued to eat cake while chatting gleefully, the familiarity of Namjoon's and Seokjin's dynamic making Jungkook feel right at home. He loved and was loved in return for the first time.
This was it, he had a home now and he wasn't leaving it any time soon.
That night they stayed up and kept eating cake while watching Ghibli movies, this time Jungkook was cuddled between the couple and fell asleep right in Namjoon and Seokijn’s arms, safe and sound.